“The Fear of Death”

[ lovethecross.com ]

Do you fear death?

Imagine what it will be like when you die.

Imagine slipping away into the unknown darkness.

Imagine the isolation. . .

The feeling of being totally alone.

I am afraid to die.

What if none of this is real – God, Jesus, the Bible – what if it's all something that some guys made up?

We say we know that God is real, but when we are faced with the stark reality of death, we come to find what we really believe.

That is to say: If you say that you believe in God, and claim to serve Him faithfully – and yet you fear death when it comes – it is obvious that you doubt whether God or heaven is real at all.

Sundays are really hard for me. I get this looming darkness over my soul sometimes. And when I think through what brings that feeling of hopelessness - of loneliness - I recognize it as the sting of death: The inevitability of my own death, and the inevitability that I will have to endure it alone.

This last Sunday, I felt really sick – I drank too much coffee or something. I felt nauseous, light-headed; I was depressed, anxious, bordering on panic. I went into my room, shut the door, kneeled down before God, and started balling like a baby. I cried to God, “I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't kill me! Please don't let me die! I don't want to die!”

But the crazy thing is, God heard my prayer. He took away my nausea and my pain. He took away the panic and the anxiety. All of the sudden, I could breathe. I could think clearly. No more depression. No more fear.

Instead, I had this deep desire for holiness. I felt so close to Jesus, and just wanted to be clean and holy before him.

It's funny how death brings us so close to the Kingdom. In death, we come face to face with a God who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

He chooses who lives and who dies, and when.

You are going to die.

When you die, you will be alone.

I don't want to die. I hate death.

And so does God.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

(John 11:32-36)

Jesus weeps in the presence of the brokenhearted. Even though Jesus allowed Lazarus to die earlier in the chapter (v.6), and was about to raise him from the dead (v.43), he is still deeply moved by the pain death has brought upon the people. He literally “feels their pain”.

God hates death, and has promised to destroy it at the end of the age.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

(Revelation 20:14-15)

Being close to death is a good thing. What really matters comes into narrow focus. For me, these times are when I am most intimate with Jesus.

One thing to keep in mind is that Jesus was no stranger to death. He, himself, knows what it's like to die.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.

(Mark 15:1)

And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

(Mark 15:2-5)

Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

(Mark 15:6-7)

And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.

(Mark 15:8-10)

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”

(Mark 15:11-13)

And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”

(Mark 15:14)

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

(Mark 15:15)

Jesus died alone, cut off from the presence of the Father.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

(Mark 15:33-34)

Jesus went to the cross, and there absorbed the full weight of God's wrath for the sins of whoever would believe on his name. The Father cut off His presence, and Jesus was crushed under the full weight of that wrath. For the first time in his existence, he was disconnected from the Father, completely alone in every way. Under that weight, he finally breathed his last.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5, 500-700 B.C.)

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief

(from Isaiah 53:10, 500-700 B.C.)

Because the sinless Jesus was cut off from the Father's presence, any sinful humans who trust in Jesus can now be blessed with the Father's presence.

Just as Jesus asked, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me,” we ask, “Father, Father, why have you accepted us!”

There are no conditions or requirements for being saved.

You simply need to look to Jesus, and trust in him for salvation.

Case in point...

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

(Luke 23:39-43)

And, I assure you, if you truly put your trust in Jesus, and he does save you, your life will change. You will become a new creation. Just as I had a desire for holiness after balling my eyes out before God, so will you have a desire to be clean and holy before Him. The Holy Spirit is Holy, and when He possesses you, He brings with Him a deep desire for Holiness.

do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

(from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Let's pray.